What Is Microsoft Azure Sentinel and Why Is It Important?

Microsoft Azure Sentinel is an intelligent, next-generation security information and event management (SIEM) solution designed to detect threat anomalies. Azure Sentinel is also categorized as a security orchestration automated response (SOAR) service that expedites the incident detection and event response process for cybersecurity teams. Azure Sentinel provides an extra layer of security to protect critical resources across an organization.

Cyberthreats Are Becoming More Sophisticated

Malicious actors are deploying intelligent, new ways to penetrate an organization’s security walls, making it a challenge for businesses to instantly manage cyberthreats and attacks. Three modern cybersecurity threats include:

• Remote Work Attacks: COVID-19 has pushed organizations to launch remote-work initiatives so personnel can do their jobs from the comfort and safety of their homes. However, remote employees unknowingly jeopardize their organization’s data security due to human error, unsafe networks, social engineering and unencrypted file sharing.

• Credential Stuffing: Automated, sophisticated bot-driven attacks intercept account login details and use the stolen credentials to access a victim’s many work and non-work related accounts. Users that reuse the same credentials across services are more likely to experience the costly ramifications of credential stuffing.

• Double Extortion Ransomware: Malicious actors gain full access to an organization’s systems through sophisticated attacks, and they demand compensation from an organization to decrypt the stolen data. Attackers also threaten to leak the intercepted data if the organization does not make additional payments.

Importance of Azure Sentinel

The Azure Sentinel solution gives security teams full threat visibility, proactive hunting and threat response functionalities. Azure Sentinel automatically triggers real-time email notifications to security teams when threat anomalies are detected. That way, teams can accelerate incident response time and eliminate the costly dangers of successful data breaches.

Azure Sentinel consists of four critical functionalities that enhance the threat detection-to-event response process for enterprises of all sizes. These components include:

• Collecting Data at Cloud Scale: Azure Sentinel collects valuable data across users, devices, applications and infrastructures in on-premise and cloud environments.

• Detecting Undetected Threats: Sentinel eliminates false-positive results and ensures that security teams are only alerted of authentic threats. Sentinel’s threat intelligence insights ensure that security investigators never miss real-time anomalies.

• Investigating Threats With Powerful AI: Security teams can better investigate and assess emerging threats with artificial intelligence (AI) that leverages Microsoft’s decade-long work in cybersecurity. Automate, accelerate and streamline investigative processes with Azure Sentinel.

• Improving Incident Response: Sentinel’s automation and orchestration functionalities ensure that event responders are immediately notified of security threats via email.

Three Major Shortfalls of Azure Sentinel

While Sentinel offers an automated, orchestrated way to manage threat events, it has disadvantages that security investigators must be aware of. Three major limitations of the Sentinel solution include:

• Email Incident Notifications: By default, Sentinel sends email notifications to inform responders of cybersecurity threats. Email notifications do not provide a distinguishable, prioritized way for responders to know the severity of an Azure notification. Additionally, critical Sentinel notifications may be buried under other inbox messages.

• Technical Knowledge Requirements: There is a learning curve for non-tech savvy users when deploying the Sentinel solution. Security teams must have knowledge of cloud-based SIEM solutions and their full capabilities.

• Third-Party SIEM Connectors Needed: Sentinel users are advocating for Azure connectors with their third-party, on-premise SIEM solutions. They would like Microsoft to develop these connectors and ensure that log structure changes do not corrupt their custom integrations.

Perfect Azure Sentinel With OnPage

Ensure that Azure Sentinel notifications are never missed by responders with the OnPage automated alerting system. Unlike email, OnPage delivers real-time, loud and distinguishable high-priority alerts via a secure mobile application. OnPage critical app alerts bypass the mute switch on all smartphones to ensure incidents are resolved at the right time every time. Teams can seamlessly integrate Azure Sentinel with OnPage through Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) connectors. 

Conclusion

Microsoft Azure Sentinel combines threat intelligence with automated alert orchestration to improve how teams respond to incidents across resources. At its core, the cloud-native SIEM solution ensures that security investigators always get the best of sophisticated cyberthreats as they emerge and happen.

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